"You sure about this?" Shadow wonders trying again to blow feeling back into his gloved hands.
Why oh why couldn't this stop be somewhere warmer like California? He thinks to himself once they've reached the apartment they need.
"Not in the least." Wednesday sighed as he drops his hand back to his side at the same time the door swung open granting them entry.
Shadow moves into the apartment behind the older man keeping himself back while also taking in every detail of the space. The apartment owners haven't formally acknowledged their presence yet but going by the hushed voices coming from down the hall into what he guesses are back bedrooms they at least know someone had just arrived.
A framed poster on a wall draws most of his attention at once. Aged as it was behind the plastic of its casing but not even that could take away from the power radiating from it. Headline newsprint that had been folded so he couldn't read the title story, but the black and white image taking up the remainder of the page was intimidating non the less.
It's Wednesday's amused snort from somewhere behind him as he'd been unthinkingly moving to get a closer look at the young man's image that finally breaks Shadow's attention from the frozen gaze of the strong man. "It's funny just how close they were to the real thing." The old God says as if that explained anything until he gestures toward another framed picture hanging on the living area wall.
A cartooned image of Thor complete with long flowing blonde hair and dorky looking winged helmet with his hammer raised toward the heavens.
A door toward the back of the small apartment opens allowing a lone figure to exit before it is quickly shut before the men could talk anymore on the subject. A cold that had nothing to do with the one outside follows her out. One so palpable Shadow swears he can see ice creeping up the glass in the kitchen windows as the silver-haired mother sweeps into it casting both him and Wednesday unwelcomed glares each.
This Shadow assumes has to be the Rose Reguius that was named on the mailboxes out front. The one they'd come to possibly recruit to in this oncoming war Wednesday kept talking was on the horizon.
At first glance, she reminded him a bit of slightly younger-looking Zorya Vechernyaya. Blonde hair now much more sliver than golden but with a face that has witnessed much in her short life. A woman of war times with the softness of a mother.
"What do you want?"
"Only a moment of your time," Wednesday answers as cool and calm as ever with a small bow of his head in a quiet greeting. "Columbia."
"I aint used that name in a long while." The woman Rose- Columbia- says her voice wistful but her eyes darkening even more in unspoken anger. "Grimnir." The motherly woman greets her tone cold as her hand moves as if without conscious thought to the chain of her necklace. A bronzed casing for a single spent shotgun round Shadow notes watching the woman toy with it before her hand drops to fist against her side.
The name sparks something in the back of Shadow's mind as his eyes find the new print sitting front and center on the front wall in the living room. "Co…Colu…Columbia-as in thee Colum—"
"Do I know you, handsome?" Columbia questions sliding over a single glass of chilled milk with a flirty wink in Shadow's direction before tugging on a pair of dark blue oven mites as if they were boxing gloves.
"Now isn't the time for fancies like that." Wednesday steps in while Shadow takes the offered drink with a shy grin of his own. "we're at war my dear."
"And what you think I'm gonna hitch up my wagon to you a second time?" Columbia scoffs shutting the oven door with a push of her hip setting out a freshly made pie onto the counter with a little more force than needed.
"I only wish to-" Wednesday starts in but quiets suddenly making his man edgy as Shadow looks around for the new source of the oncoming threat.
"I don't care what you wish for. Just leave and take your pretty boy bodyguard with you when you do." The old goddess of the American spirit cuts in pointing with an apple pie filling coated serving knife toward the apartment's front door.
"Aaww not even going to share a slice of that delicious treat with an old friend?" Wednesday goads gesturing to the two already cut slices cooling beside the whole. The scent of cinnamon and apples tickled Shadow's nose making his mouth water and his stomach rumble in answer at the idea of food. They hadn't stopped even for something to eat since leaving the mall after getting Wednesday's spear mended.
"Hey maybe we should uah-" Shadow says at the same time already backing away toward the door. He didn't understand just what but something about this place had him spooked. True he'd seen some messed-up stuff since taking that third shot glass back in that Crocodile bar but nothing that spoked him quite like this. Well, maybe not as bad as that first encounter with that punk in the limo but close enough.
"No, no, no." Wednesday waves off his gaze now lock on a skish-looking Columbia. "I think we'll stay just a little while long-"
Heat crackled around them making Wednesday pause with an integrated glance toward the small hallway Columbia had first come from while the woman herself seemed frozen fear and anticipation clear on her face when the Old God looks her way a second time.
"Mama said for you to go."
Despite the order coming from a dark-haired teenager Shadow was nervous. Something about this kid sending instant alarm bells in his head not to mess with her. maybe it was the redder highlights of her long auburn locks braided over one shoulder or the hard set of her grey eyes. Like darkening storm clouds just waiting to let loose an all-powerful wave of destruction.
"And just who might you be my lady?" Wednesday smiles as cool as ever under the teens heated glare.
"She said for you to leave. So, leave." Another young voice growls making Shadow spin around in a panic almost twisting his ankle in the process.
How in the world had she snuck passed so fast?
They were essentially trapped between the two teenagers. Twins he noticed despite the differences in their hair color and minor variations in their facial structures. The blonde by the door sharing more similarities to the man Shadow noted in the framed newsprint with her darker-haired sister looked more like the silver-haired woman standing dazed in the kitchen still clutching the pie filling coated knife in her trembling fingers.
"Maddie, Maggie please." Their mother pleaded as the shuffling heat swirled even tighter and hotter around them. Almost as if the air itself were crackling with charging energy like salt-infused sandpaper sliding against his skin making him even more uncomfortable than before.
"Now, now ladies. Is that any way to treat a guest?" Wednesday tasks not at all bothered by the suffocating scratch of the atmosphere in the apartment.
A heavy looking bronzed something spins into the grip of one Shadow guessed was Maddie as she shakes her head. "You aint no guest of ours. Mr." she says defiantly twisting the handle of the heavy-looking tool against her palm. The nervous bodyguard spots the interesting way Wednesday's eyes immediately drop to it a mixture of pain and something akin to awe in his expression even more so than when he'd first spotted the tall intimidating teenager with hair the color of darkened blood before schooling his face into a more indifferent mask.
"Mama doesn't want you here. We don't want you here." Her sister echoes stalking toward them like a predatory jungle cat. It wasn't until Shadow's eyes drop to the dog-like creature at the teen's side that he realized the growling he'd been hearing hadn't all been from her. "Sshh Tannin." The blonde soothes resting a hand against the 'dog's' head with an affectionate scratch. "The bad man will be leaving soon enough."
"Did he know?" Wednesday questions after an agreeing node of his head his one good eye falling for the quickest of glances at the newsprint glaring at them from the sitting room as he asked.
"What do you think." The silver-haired mother of the West scoffs her hand resting again on her closest daughter's arm while motioning for her other daughter to stop her guarding the only way in or out of the small apartment.
"We'll be taking our leave then." Wednesday signs with a defeated kind of acceptance in his tone once the obviously seething twins had been swayed from thoughts of destruction with a slice of their mother's freshly made treat and a tall glass of chilled milk.
"What now?" Shadow questioned once the pair had been not so warmly herded back out into the hallway by a rather enthusiastic 'Tannin' before the animal had been called back by a commanding whistle from the apartment kitchen.
"Well, I don't know about you but I sure as heck could use a stiff one right about now." His boss laughs "let's go find a bar with a decent lunch menu."